Weekly Post - 29.1.2018 - 4.2.2018

Meghan509

Good morning everybody!

Here is our new thread for the week. Happy Monday and hope everybody is ready for a good week and had a great weekend!

Light day here. Trying a new recipe for light day lunches this week. Will post that for you shortly, in case you want to try it.

See you all soon!

sjgold123

Hi everyone, weigh day for me tomorrow and a fast day so that may go one way or the other lol especially after my wkd. I need to try a few new receipes so shall pop on the other posts.

Meghan509

Hi All,

Hope everybody is having a good Monday.

Good luck with your weigh in tomorrow @sjgold123

Here is the recipe that I made for light day lunches this week. (Link Below)
I made a couple of changes to make it four servings. First thing I did was swap out sweet potato and used butternut squash. Probably not a calorie difference there, just didn't feel like chopping up a bunch of sweet potatoes. LOL Dealing with a pound of already chopped butternut is easier. Just needs a tad more chopping and good to go. Other thing I changed was using one container of garbonzo beans, instead of two. Also added three large organic carrots, chopped up to give it a little more umph. Added a dash of turmeric as well. Comes in at around 211 calories when I did these changes and it makes four BIG servings. I put it in the slow cooker for five and a half hours on low which was plenty of time. Could do less next time. The squash really breaks down and becomes soupy on its own. Spinach is tossed in last, with say 20 minutes left. Verdict - YUMMY!!
Will post in the meal threads.

https://www.skinnytaste.com/chickpea-sweet-potato-stew/

Meghan509

Good morning everybody!

Happy Tuesday!

We have some snow here on the ground today in southern New England. That was a bit of a surprise because the weather reports were saying for Tuesday, "oh no, no accumulation, blah, blah, blah"! Righhhhht. First thing I hear this AM as the alarm clock goes off and the local radio station guy says: "Here are your school closings and delays". What?! LOL There is a little snow on the ground and seems like most of the car got it, the ground is just wet and slushy in some spots. Oh well!

Our office is quiet for a few days as a lot of the senior peeps are in a management meeting down in Florida. Some times I have flown down to help out with the meeting but this year I didn't have to. FL is nice and all, but it is also nice to get a free pass and stay back because that is a lot of work and you are not able to experience any outdoor time - you are in a meeting room 24/7.

Light day was good yesterday. Felt good. Drank a lot of water. Finding that if I don't put ice in it, just drink it on the cooler side that I am able to drink it easier. My cup is a big metal one and it keeps the water cool on its own. The ice cubes were can be a bit much sometimes and can turn in to an iceberg in the cup!

Will be heading to the gym tonight for cardio. Last night was strength training and a short walk on the treadmill. Tonight I will do the treadmill or the bike.

Have a nice one and see you soon.

whatiwont

Hi! Today is a fasting day for me. I'm going to make chicken with an avocado salsa, and probably eat a yogurt - still figuring out what kind of strategy works best for me. I also started a 90-day yoga program, which I'm loving so far. So, feeling goodish this week, though I'm still dealing with the vacation setback. Thanks for the check-in thread, it helps me feel like I'm still doing something when progress is slow.

sjgold123

I'm 1.5llb down happy but not as much as other weeks but to be fair it's a realistic amount whereas wk1 and 2 were surprising! Total loss 11lbs. Fast day today went well. Poached eggs and low cal protein bread for breakfast then sweet potato, chicken salad for tea. I was proper hungry and moody though before i ate my husband took a wide berth lol. The not having a cuppa tea i struggle with but always save cals to wind down with one of an eve.
I'm out for a belated xmas meal tomorrow and trying to suss out best options trouble is it's well known for it's steaks which goes hand in hand with chips and peppercorn sauce for me. I'm going to try to opt for seabass but allow a pud. Then have soup for tea. Just hard to count cals/portion control when someone else is cooking.

KateNkognito

Oh, my! What a week! It started with me picking up some sort of virus last Friday. My sinuses! This week I got hit hard with homework. At school, the little children are CRAZY!! I think our principal is questioning his career choices after today! I am questioning my choice to get a teaching degree! LOL BTW, full moon is tomorrow. Pray for all of us in the schools!
I was in a fog and forgot to weigh on Sunday. I have not tracked a single food this week. I am trying to be sensible, but I feel gross still, so comfort food is my friend.
Overall, I am still determined to lose, and this is just a bump in the road. I will find a way to deal with the stress and busyness.
Congrats on the losses! I hope everyone is having a great week! Happy fasting!!

Meghan509

Hi all!

Been busy here, but things are good. No complaints other than it is not Friday yet.

Glad to see you are doing the yoga @whatiwont - that will definitely help get the weight loss flowing again. I know what you mean about a vacation hiccup. I had one last year and during the December holidays. January was a very slow month but the scale is going in the right direction and have to keep focused on the big picture!

Congrats on your weight loss @sjgold123 that is great! Anywhere from one to two pounds a week is normal. And when you get closer to your goal it will slow down a little. My weight loss has been pretty slow lately, but not much I can do about it other then to just stay focused. Exercise will help keep it moving and help you burn calories even when your eating is not perfect.

@KateNkognito congrats again on getting back to school. I am so excited for you! Sorry to hear that you were sick. I believe @ryenday's husband is also sick - saw that on last week's thread. Hope everybody is feeling better!
I hear you about comfort food. That is my go-to as well. You will get back on track.

For Kate and anyone else who has a busy schedule - I find that cooking and prepping on the weekend (I know some of you have kiddies, so easier said than done) has helped me tremendously. I shop and buy stuff for the week and cook it up on the weekend so during the week all we have to do is reheat for the most part. One of the many reasons I am totally in to my Slow Cooker! LOL Since we go to the gym after work it helps because if we had to cook a big meal that late, we wouldn't eat until 9pm each night. Too late. Yuck.

Today is another regular day. We are celebrating a baby shower for a colleague today and we have a cheese cake being delivered from a local bakery. I plan on having a SMALL piece and skipping my trail mix, so I have enough calories to justify it.

Going to the gym after work for strength training and a short cardio tonight. Last night all the treadmills that we like were taken, so we did the exercise bike. Turned out to be a pretty good workout. Our gym is still busy with New Year's Resolution peeps. Sigh...

See you soon, gang!

sjgold123

I survived the restaurant without a dessert and my meal came in approx 700 cals. What was hard they put the chips in the middle of the table to serve yourself...noooo! But i was good and i didn't have a starter or pud and my they looked good a whole cabinet full of fresh cakes!!!
With an avacado and chicken salad for tea I'm under my cals today and not tempted to add a treat as to allow for errors of eating out. Hope tomorrow goes well for everyone.

Meghan509

Good morning everybody!

Congrats on your meal out @sjgold123, sounds like it was succesfull!

I had a small piece of cheesecake yesterday afternoon for my colleague's baby shower. It was really good! I logged it as best I could and didn't eat my afternoon yogurt or any other snacks. The shower was a surprise and she was VERY surprised. A bunch of us chipped in with $$ and bought a Target gift card. She is due at the end of this month.

Today is a light day and I am trying to focus on getting all of my water intake. I am sitting a pound up from my low of last Friday. We shall see how tomorrow AM's weigh in shapes up. Hoping for the best. It is all I can do. Tonight will be a cardio workout for me at the gym. Really hoping there are treadmills tonight. The gym has been so busy lately. Sigh...

In any case, I am happy that the week is moving along! Thursday is here and before we know it, the weekend will be here.

In the USA we have Super Bowl Sunday, this coming Sunday night at 6:30pm Eastern, where the final two National Football League teams get to see who wins the big Super Bowl trophy. I will definitely be watching, as I am a big fan of one of the teams. We are going to watch it at home. Anybody doing anything fun, going to or throwing any parties? I am going to be cooking some pulled chicken in the slow cooker, to make some nachos or tacos with. Still figuring out the rest of the menu. Will be lots of nibbles for sure.

Have a great day all. See you soon.

ryenday

A link to recent Mosley article http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42864061

And re the mentioned show: Posted Quote from another forum board:

cityjaneLondon wrote: »

Watched my recording of a programme about fitness, by Michael Moseley, who has done much to popularise the 5:2 diet. Apparently you can get just as much benefit as doing 10,000 steps by doing 3 sets of 10 minute vigorous walking a day. Or by doing extremely vigorous hit on a stationary bike for 3 ×40 seconds a week. You can even do it at home for 5 mins 3 times a week. Also dancing is very good for the brain as well as the body. Also running does not hurt your knees. Plus, don't tax your willpower to much - strategy is stronger than willpower.
Test your strength by rising and lowering yourself onto a chair. How many can you do in ten seconds? And what is your heart rate after standing up on a step and down again for three minutes.
Will do those soon.
So no excuses by anyone who says they haven't got time or space to exercise. Gotcha!
Oh, and moderate weight lifting done for longer is just as strengthening as heavy done for shorter time.

But if you are in UK here is link to that show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qjl7d

sjgold123

Thanks for the link ryenday i will take a look :-)
Sounds likr you are having a good week Meghan and have your wkd sorted.
I've had a good day still decorating. Tomorrow is my 2nd fast but glad for it to not fall on a wkd as that is a whole new level of hard for me!

What i could do with help with is logging cals in a portion when preparing for the whole family. I weighed every ingredient and wrote down all the cals but with liquid stock added the weight of food doubled of the overall dish when cooked. I have the weight for my portion of the meal. So do people get fussy seperating ingredients etc. I know it's probably a simple maths equasion but it's confused me the more i think about it!!!
I haven't cooked something so intergrated before so it's been easy to devide.

mamainthekitchen

Woah! Hello everyone! Sorry to be MIA.... my mother fell in a parking lot & broke hip!!!! Omg.... She’s in good spirits and a swimmer so in good shape to begin with other than when she tripped in Maui 2 years ago and broke everything then! Any way gotta run.... I’ve been trying to log when I can at least I may stay the same since no alcohol these last 2 weeks! Ha! But trying to at least not consume too much candy as that’s my stress reliever! Ugh! I know!! Welcome to new comers and hi to the regulars!!! No surgery needed to my ma so just waiting for bones to heal then it’s off to get her exercising again! Take you calcium ladies!!!! ;-)

whatiwont

Yesterday I had a late lunch at a fast food place, which was interesting. It wasn't a fast day and I haven't strictly been counting on my other days (going to see how that works out over time) but sometimes I add things up just to see what I'm doing. Anyway, I just picked what I normally would, and then afterwards I checked the calories and realized that that meal was basically a full day's worth of calories for me. Seeing that then - right after eating the meal - definitely gave me some perspective about different choices I could have made without enjoying myself much less, which hopefully I'll actually apply next time I'm in that situation. I decided that I'd only need a small dinner, but then dinnertime came and went and I just...wasn't that hungry, so I didn't eat anything else. That was really interesting, and definitely a new thing for me.

Today is a fast day, and I figured out an awesome pasta with pesto, fresh tomato and roast mushrooms, which I'm happy to add to my repertoire. Excited to eat more food tomorrow, though.

jknight001

Hi All! Just checking in.Doing my second day of my Monday/Thursday fasts. Been really busy lately but I am happy to report I have been able to maintain 5:2. Love this program! So glad to see others joining us - @sjgold123 @cdurston50523 @whatiwont You all keep us going.

@Meghan509 - we are definitely football fans. Our teams, mainly Greenbay Packers, were eliminated. Would like to see someone different win the Super Bowl but we shall see. Would be interested in your Pulled Chicken recipe. Never made shredded chicken before. Would love to learn how to.

@ryenday - Interesting post about exercise. Sounds like even if you are at a desk job one could get a decent amount of exercise. I remember you saying you would be adding some calories back to your regular days. How is that going? Are you glad you did?

@sjgold123 - You were asking about weighing, measuring and portions. What I do is add the whole recipe into MFP and go from there. They will take the website URL for the recipe and do most of the work for you. So if I know the egg dish serves 4. I take 1/4 of the pan as one serving. If I can measure the whole pot or pan and divide it by the number of servings I try to do that so I can be more accurate but sometimes that is just not realistic. For everything else I just weigh and measure out what I am eating onto my own plate and let the family take their own portions. In the end I try not to stress out too much about it. It isn't the 10 calories here or there that get us, it is the 100 calories here or there that do.

@mamainthekitchen - so sorry to hear about your mom. It is hard when our parents are injured. Hope she has a speedy recovery!

@whatiwont - I so identify with what you said. Weighing and measuring and calorie counting is a real pain. But the wonderful part is when I wake up to exactly how much I have been eating and how much I really don't need all that food. Sometimes we just become blind to what we are doing to ourselves. MFP can be a real wakeup call.

Meghan509

Good morning everybody! Happy Friday.

I am down .2 this morning. A little but, going in the right direction. Last month I was battling holiday weight gain, so hopefully this month I am back on track and can continue going in the right direction even if slow. I will take it.

Ugh, work is busy so I can't shout out to everybody. Keep trying to post but getting interrupted over and over. Going to keep this brief for now.

Sorry to hear about your Mom @mamainthekitchen hope she is feeling better.

@jknight001 for my pulled chicken, it is super duper easy! See below so others can see if they are interested.

I take some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I dump a bottle of BBQ sauce in the slow cooker with them. If I have a pound or two of chicken then a bottle or a little less is plenty of sauce. If you want to thin the sauce out a little then you can add a little water or some chicken broth to your slow cooker as well. I like to cook slow and low, six hours on low, and when you have around 30 minutes left upen up and shred the chicken with two forks. If it looks a little dry you can always add a little more sauce but you probably won't need to. Enjoy!!

Have a nice one everybody! Will try and check back this afternoon when things quiet down a little. TGIF!

ryenday

Wow, totally crazy around here, but calm on the horizons thank heavens.

First, the Fast Mimic Diet: my Jan 5 days doing this seemed successful. I dropped about 4 pounds, tho that was not my reasons for doing so. I’m hoping to reap health benefits by doing this 3 or 4 times a year. It is approx 1100 cals the first day and 800 calories the subsequent days with very specific macros. Check under the spoiler for my ‘cheat sheet’ for specifics.

As for me, I’m not positive how it is going, I’m having a hard time dialing in on maintenance calories without the huge fear that I’m about to become obese if I eat a 1600 to 1800 regular day. (that works out to about 9500 a week which unfortunately includes most exercise calories ((all my walking, biking and strength training) + about 1200-1800 extra a week from my 2-3 mile weekly swims. Factor in two light days at a total of 1000 to 1200 cals and the FIVE days should be in that 1600 to 1800 range. The math says that is maintenance. My head and gut say ‘stop eating you stupid old fat woman’. . Working on it.

Making it more difficult is that if you discount exercise I get about 8700 cals a week. And I walk a whole lot + other stuff to get only less than an extra 1000 cals. And that scares me. A lot. Working on it.

Maybe that is a bit why I’ve gone quiet here too. I feel like a failure even though I lost 49 pounds. I know, crazy. . Working on it. Lol

On a happy note: open spoiler for sickeningly sweet kitty picture.

sjgold123

Hi all a few busy days. I sorted my problem and devided by poirtons. This diet has made me think about how low you can go and not feel hungry. I had 500 cals today in 3 meals. This will help me rein it in in future. It kinda makes me think about what i am prepared to waste my calories on and what is worth it!
Good to hear success with meals and weight loss goals. Nice to see a busy post too x

Meghan509

Hi all.

First let me send a hug to @ryenday I understand what you are going through.
I have been close to goal but have not quite been there, then put the weight back on. Yes, this was before a lot of the mighty internet and the daily use of these types of apps, boards, etc. but still scares me.
My advice is to take it one day at a time and one week at a time until you figure out a routine that works. Some weeks you might gain a little and other weeks you might lose a little. But that is okay because we are only human right?
Take a step back and look at the big picture and see how far you have come and what you have accomplished! You lost 49 pounds on your own. No weight loss surgery, no pills, no magic potions that marketing companies pedal to people for $$. You did the hard work on your own by eating less and doing some exercise.
You got this! Might take a little time and patience but it will work out. Let your mind relax a little and take some deep breaths. It will all work out.
You did not come this far, to only come this far. Hugs!

@sjgold123 I now what you mean about how this WOE can really tell you about your body and your hunger levels. I do require much less food than I thought I did. Before I started this plan I was overeating healthy food. That is a problem a lot of people have. Until you take a look at portions and calories you really don't realize how much you are eating. Chronic issue here in the USA, coupled with lack of movement. Not good!

Getting ready to hit the grocery stores soon. Have a good one everybody!

jknight001

Officially made it into the 140s yesterday. Don't know when the last time was I saw the scale begin with "14".

@Meghan509 - LOVED your post to @ryenday! We all need that kind of pep talk. Weight loss is hard work! One big difference between food addiction and most other addictions is that you just can't quit it. We all need to eat. And the crazy part is it isn't all about what we eat and what we don't it is about how much and how often. Healthy people eat ice cream, they just don't eat a half gallon every other day. For us, each meal is steeped in choices. For me, it is a constant battle between what I would like to eat and what my body needs. So there we are down in the trenches every day so much so we forget to look up and see how much we have accomplished, how hard we have pushed the enemy back. I agree that 49 lbs is a GRAND accomplishment. It is days and days of making good choices regarding diet and exercise for one's self by someone who had spent a lot of years making not so good choices for oneself. It is a lifestyle change. And it is an accomplishment very few people can say they have done for the reasons I listed above which make this journey extra hard. I also agree that keeping in the moment is so important for this life long journey. I try not to worry about the choices made yesterday for they cannot be changed. I try not to worry about the choices for tomorrow for who knows what tomorrow will bring. I just focus on making today the best day I can and yesterday & tomorrow will take care of themselves.

And thanks for the post on the chicken. I was really wondering about the timing so thanks a bunch. What if I wanted a Mexican twist. Do you think a jar of salsa would be a good substitute for the BBQ sauce or would that be too overpowering? Or maybe taco seasoning and broth? If you have done a Mexican version of shredded chicken I would love to know what you did. I love BBQ sauce but the DH not so much.

@ryenday - Wow! Fancy you! Love the little spoiler code. Love the kitty too.

sjgold123

Hi all good day here as i've tried lo dough (a bread alternative that is only 39 cals about the size of a wrap) We made pizza loaded with light mozerella, parma ham, pineapple, mushrooms, spinach, onion, sweetcorn, it was really good and came in around 260cals. Half a pizza is typically 450 and i had a whole one. Which lefy space for treats a slice of toffee pavalova and a glass of wine. So my day has been awesome on food front lol. Shopping was not easy being a saturday night everyone's baskets were treat loaded, it makes you fancy everything you shouldn't! But we stayed on track.
Well done to everyone else it is encouraging! Have a good wkd!